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The Ecology of Lucayan Arawak Fishing Practices

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

William F. Keegan*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90024

Abstract

Fishing is a form of predator-prey interaction. As such, the behaviors of fishes can be used to define a restricted range of human behaviors that resulted in their capture. In this report, ecological evidence, fishbone analysis, ethnohistoric reports for the prehistoric Caribbean, experimental fishtrap samples, and ethnographic reports of fishing in other coral waters are brought together in the analysis of prehistoric fishing in the Bahama Archipelago. The analysis is conducted at two levels. First, general fishing strategies are distinguished on the basis of behavioral evidence; and second, specific capture techniques are identified through comparisons with experimental fishtrap samples.

Type
Reports
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 1986

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